Table 8 Maternal Behaviour

Table 8 Maternal behaviour

neonate cleaning / The cow licks the new-born calf dry, eventually eating the foetal membranes [52,59].
suckling initiation / The cow approaches her calf and stares at it; once the calf realises it approaches the udders and begins to nurse [42].
suckling prevention / The cow does not allow the calf to suckle, by simply moving away or moving one of her hind legs forward (own observation, [42]). No other calves but the own one is permitted to suckle [42].
nurse / The mother stands still and lets the calf suckle, while she abstains from browsing but only scans. [42,59]. The suckling act is mostly terminated by the cow, not by the calf [42].
olfactory bonding / The mother touches the young calf on head, mane, back or rump with her nose, and licks the calf’s body; the sniffing appears most frequently on neonates, but also with calves of several days of age, probably to strengthen the mother-calf bond [42,59].